Antoine Fuqua Discussed “Emancipation” And Will Smith

It’s been a yr of highs and lows for Will Smith following the incident with Chris Rock on the 2022 Oscars.

Now that Will’s new slave drama, Emancipation, is in theaters, the film’s director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Southpaw) spoke to Vanity Fair to defend the movie and its star.

When requested if the slap on the 2022 Oscars was going to have an effect on the film, Fuqua responded, “The film to me is bigger than that moment. Four hundred years of slavery is bigger than one moment. My hope is that people will see it that way and watch the movie and be swept away with the great performance by Will and all the real hard work that the whole crew did.”

As a Black man who’s bored with seeing Black trauma popularized in media, I’m hesitant that Emancipation is simply one other slave film so as to add to the lengthy listing of reminders of our tragic American historical past.

But Fuqua is agency in his stance that this is not like different “slave movies.” “As a filmmaker, I wasn’t out looking for a slave movie; I never saw Emancipation as a slave movie. I wrote ‘sacred motivation’ on the top of my script, because it was something more spiritual for me and for Will. It was a story about triumph.”

He claims that “it was always about trying to find a way to be inspiring [and] showing people that you can make it through anything.”

That’s why it was by no means a dialog to cancel the film. Apple and the producers had discussions main as much as the movie’s launch, however they by no means included stopping manufacturing.

“It was always a full conversation with Apple. They were very sensitive to myself, to Will, to all the people who worked on the movie. There was never a conversation with me and Apple or my producers, Todd Black and Jon Mone or Heather Washington, about the movie not coming out,” Fuqua stated. “It was more about, ‘We’re assessing everything. We’re seeing what people are saying.'”

He stated “they were very careful” about your entire scenario. And after they noticed the ultimate lower of the movie, “some people and their reactions were really positive, and we discussed it along the way.”

“My conversation was always, ‘Isn’t 400 years of slavery, of brutality, more important than one bad moment?’ We were in Hollywood, and there’s been some really ugly things that have taken place, and we’ve seen a lot of people get awards that have done some really nasty things. So I think Apple considered all those things, and we discussed a lot of those things. Then a decision was made by the people in charge of distribution and the money at Apple—and I’m grateful, I’m really grateful.”

Fuqua continued his unwavering assist for Will, saying, “I was with Will for two years and I haven’t met a nicer human being. I’m being honest about it. He was kind to everyone on the set.”

“So, I saw a different person than that one moment in time, and so my reaction was that particular moment is very foreign to me when it comes to Will Smith. I have nothing but amazing things to say about Will Smith, really genuinely. You can ask anybody that worked on the movie, they’ll tell you the same. Nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. Chris Rock — I know Chris — Chris is a good guy, too. I’ve spent time with Chris, and I think it’s an unfortunate event and I hope we can move forward and get past it,” he continued.

Fuqua thinks that it is essential we discover a technique to transfer ahead. “So no excuses for anyone or anything, but I can say that he’s a good man and I hope that people can forgive him and that we can move forward. I hope Chris and Will find a way to sit together publicly, privately, whatever, and make amends. I think it would be an incredible statement.”